Milan Kucan

Milan Kucan (14 January 1941-) was President of Slovenia from 8 October 1991 to 22 December 2002, preceding Janez Drnovsek. From 1986 to 1990, he also served as Chairman of the League of Communists of Slovenia, succeeding Andrej Marinc.

Biography
Milan Kucan was born in Krizevci, Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941 to a family of Lutheran teachers. His father died during World War II, and he became involved with the communist political organizations of postwar Yugoslavia while attending college. In 1978, he became Speaker of the National Assembly, and he then came to represent the League of Communists of Slovenia in the SKJ Central Committee in Belgrade in 1982. From 1986 to 1990, he led the Slovenian Communists, but Kucan and the Slovenian delegation left the Party Congress on 23 January 1990 due to a deterioration in Slovenia-Serbia relations. This led to the collapse of the SKJ, and Kucan oversaw the Slovenian transition to democracy as its first President, serving as a member of the Social Democrats of Slovenia. On 25 June 1991, Slovenia declared independence, and the Yugoslav People's Army briefly fought against the Slovenians in the "Ten-Day War". He served as President until 2002, and he successfully campaigned for Slovenian membership in NATO and the European Union two years later.